


Guest List

by bondlikejames96



Series: Posey Shepard [5]
Category: Mass Effect
Genre: Bonding ritual, F/M, Family, Fluff, Love, SO MUCH FLUFF, Shepard's wedding, Turians are weird, Wedding, Wedding Planning, interrupted makeout sessions, startled salarians
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-08-06
Updated: 2017-06-12
Packaged: 2018-04-13 06:11:56
Rating: Mature
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 5
Words: 17,051
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/4510857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bondlikejames96/pseuds/bondlikejames96
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Set a few months after the events of "Certain Shade of Blue", Posey and Garrus are adjusting to their lives as galactic leaders and a soon-to-be-married couple. But there's a lot that goes into planning a wedding this high-profile, and of course nothing is ever as easy as it seems. It'll take the help of friends, both old and new, and maybe even some family too to make this thing go off without a hitch. </p>
<p>Bonus: Turian bonding rituals are weird. But Shepard's cool with it.</p>
<p>Featuring new OC's for the CSB universe, and frequent check-ups on most main characters from CSB!</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Interruptions

**Author's Note:**

  * For [BardofHeartDive](https://archiveofourown.org/users/BardofHeartDive/gifts), [Simirulz204](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Simirulz204/gifts).



> **Dedicated to Bard and Simi for their crazy awesome support throughout CSB. Have some wedding cake and body paint. ;-)
> 
> When I started to sit down and really try to get this down on paper, I originally thought it would just be a one-shot, sweet little something. But the more I wrote and the more I planned, I realized that these two deserve so much more than that, so here we are. I have no idea how long this will be, honestly. But if you care to stick with me through this as you all did through Certain Shade of Blue, I hope that it is worth your time and that you enjoy it! Thanks for reading.

“Well, shit,” Posey Shepard muttered as she spotted a lively, dark-skinned asari briskly approaching across the lobby. Her towering heels clicked a steady beat on the tile, and with every step Shepard wished she had called in sick rather than reporting to this Council meeting. She’d been avoiding this woman like the plague recently, knowing that there was only one thing on her mind right now and it was _not_ something Shepard felt qualified to deal with.

But there was no escape now, as she was stuck in full view and unmistakable in her Council uniform. Posey pulled the royal blue collar up higher on her neck and smoothed down the sleeves as she waited for the distance to finally close between her and the asari. As the gap between them disappeared, Posey noticed half a dozen datapads sticking out of the bag that the woman carried. She felt her face fall in dread.

Nariah T’Doren had been assigned as her personal stylist a little over two years ago, and Posey had been grateful for her clothing expertise in that time. Her Council uniform was far and above the loveliest garment she’d ever owned, even in its simplicity and comfort. The girl was somewhat of a prodigy, so if Shepard absolutely had to have someone else to make all of her clothing choices for public appearances, at least she knew it was someone so charming and capable. Her skills, Shepard knew, would be an incredible asset over the next few months

“Councilor Shepard!” the designer called out with a wave, as though Shepard may not have noticed her rapid approach. Nariah was practically vibrating with excitement, her indigo eyes glimmering as she grasped Shepard’s hand in a firm shake. “Councilor, thank you so much for this opportunity. You won’t regret this, ma’am, I swear!”

_Somehow, I already am_ , she thought to herself as she passed a hand over her brow to push back some stray wisps of crimson hair. “Nariah, we’ve been over this. Stop calling me ma’am. Please.”

“Oh, of course ma’am – I mean, Councilor, ma’am. Shepard. Councilor Shepard.”

Posey waved a tired hand to quiet the girl, a smirk curling across her lips. “Breathe, Nariah.”

A deep inhale and exhale through her nose later, she seemed to calm down, at least for the moment. She reached into the bag on her shoulder and pulled out all of the datapads, cradling them as she inspected each to determine the contents.

“This one here is options for color schemes,” Nariah said quickly, passing the first datapad to Shepard. Before she even had time to power it on to review the options, there was another one being placed on top of it. “That one has dress designs for you and your wedding party, and suit designs for all the men involved, et cetera, et cetera.”

An image fluttered to life on the screen of the datapad, a sketch of Shepard’s own body with a shockingly revealing garment traced on and colored white, with intricate hand-drawn swirls of pale dawn grey. Shepard sputtered a little bit, holding the datapad up to Nariah.

“What in hell’s name is this?”

“Oh, that’s. . .” A navy blush swept across the asari’s cheeks, and she desperately averted her eyes anywhere but the rendering and Shepard’s demanding gaze. “It’s not for the wedding, _per se_. . .”

“Nariah, I did _not_ ask you to personally design my _lingerie_. I promise, we will manage just fine with store-bought items.”

“No, no, no! It’s not lingerie!” the girl said quickly, cringing eyes and wringing hands pleading for a change in conversation. “It’s a turian thing, I think, you’ll just have to ask Chief Primarch Vakarian to explain it to you. . . Please.”

“ _Nariah_ ,” Shepard sighed, already tiring of this entire affair. “Just call him Garrus, for God’s sake.”

“I, umm. . . Yes ma’am. I mean - um, of course Councilor.” Nariah’s cheeks still burned as she reached for the next datapad. A proud grin spread across her face as she passed it to Shepard, sweeping a finger gracefully across the screen. “Seating arrangements, already filled out and optimized for maximum positivity amongst your guests. Which, I will admit, was no small task, having to deal with five hundred tables and make sure that everyone will at least not despise the person they are sitting next to.”

Shepard chuckled a bit. “I’m sure five hundred tables is bit of an exaggeration, but still, that is quite impressive. This is why I hired you to do it, instead of just going after it myself.”

Nariah’s eyes narrowed, her head tilting quizzically. “An exaggeration?”

For the second time in as many minutes, Shepard’s heart fell into her stomach. “It’s an exaggeration, right? Five hundred tables?”

A loud, enthusiastic burst of laughter erupted from the designer, her head falling back and shoulders shaking. “Oh, _dear_ Goddess. They always did say you could have been a comedian, Councilor.” She swiped a tear from beneath her eye as her giggles subsided. “How many guests were you expecting, exactly?”

“Well, I was thinking something like... I mean I don’t know,” Shepard was flustered for words, her free hand waving uselessly. “Maybe four hundred? And even that seems rather excessive, I just -“

Nariah’s face fell into her hands, quiet laughter bubbling up again. “Oh, dear Councilor. Four hundred. More like four thousand.”

“ _Excuse me_?”

“It’s going to be the hottest event of the year, Councilor Shepard. Everyone across the galaxy is already begging for invitations, so four thousand seems quite reasonable to me. Besides, your bridesmaids said that number sounded perfectly fine.”

Ah, and there it was. “Which bridesmaids did you discuss this with, exactly?”

“Oh, not all of them. Just the Grand Admiral and Dr. T’Soni. They seemed quite content with the number of invitations we sent out.”

“You already sent out the invitations to this?”

“Of course, Councilor. I am not known to procrastinate, especially on matters as important as these.”

Shepard put her palm to her forehead, accepting her demise. “Fine. As long as I don’t have to talk to all of them.”

“That certainly won’t be necessary, Councilor Shepard. However, you may want to hire a personal assistant at some point in the near future to help you with writing all of the thank you messages for the gifts you will be receiving.”

“Great,” Posey sighed, “Just great. So who exactly is invited to this thing?”

The last two datapads were added to the stack in Posey’s arms. “Here is the guest list,” Nariah said sweetly, her teeth blindingly white. “Those two pads have all of the guests invited, the waitlist for invitations, and everyone’s addresses.”

The stack was heavy in her arms, and she was more than eager to pass the datapads back to Nariah. But the asari shook her head, hoisting her bag up on her shoulder as she said to Shepard, “Those are yours to keep! I have my own copies of each datapad at home, so even if we can’t meet in person you can still review the files and decide if there’s something you really don’t like.”

Posey glared at the precarious weight of decisions in her hands while Nariah sashayed away across the lobby. It was going to be a long three months.

 

#

 

“Primarch Vakarian, Councilor Shepard is here to see you.”

Garrus’s eyes opened swiftly, and he sat up in his chair. “Send her in, please. Thanks, Sarel.”

The voice on the other end of the comms was world weary, but ungrudging in the way the receptionist said, “No problem.” As he waited for Posey to come into the office, Garrus took a few moments to straighten his uniform and throw the stacks of paper on his desk into the empty drawer he reserved for when Posey came by. She hated how disorganized his office usually was, and the first few times she’d visited him here she’d spent hours afterwards reorganizing and refiling all of the mundane papers he received on a daily basis. Their time together was a little more limited now that they were both high-powered galactic leaders. And filing was certainly _not_ how Garrus wanted to spend that time with her.

He had just slammed the drawer shut when the door to his office flew open, and Garrus looked up with a broad grin. Posey’s face was drawn and tired, but she still wore that sparkling smile that was always saved specifically for him.

“Hey big guy,” she said with a hint of a purr. “Whatcha up to?”

“Trying to get some work done,” Garrus chuckled, even as he powered off his desk computer and slid his chair out. Shepard threw a thick bundle of datapads onto his desk, not even caring that they scattered across the surface as she slithered into his lap. His hands went to her waist, thumbs brushing the bottom of her ribcage. Her face was suddenly inches from his, close enough to count every tiny freckle if he hadn’t done it a thousand times already as she slept.

The soft little chuckle she gave spurred him onwards, pressing his forehead to hers for just a moment before darting his tongue out to brush across her lips. She moved in even closer, shivering the slightest bit when his talons went to work on the closures of her jacket. It was gone without a second thought, leaving only the rich blue dress that served as the other part of her uniform. Both of them knew better than to take off _too_ much of their clothing here, but the temptation was still there as Garrus’s talon tips danced along the zipper that ran down Shepard’s spine. His other hand was still pressed firmly against the dip of her waist, and with a tickling twitch of a finger she jumped up out of his lap, squealing indignantly. She leaned against the desk as her crimson brows arced low over lilac eyes, trying for all the world to look angry. But there was not an upset bone in her body just then, and Garrus knew it. He stood up, slowly drawing his gaze over her soft figure, and leaned in towards her, pushing her against the desk until she was fully seated on top of it. The little sounds of enjoyment she made against his mouth plates gave him all the permission he needed to lean her backwards, until her shoulder blades were resting against the datapads she’d thrown down earlier.

Her nimble fingers finally moved to the dress jacket of his uniform, fiddling with the ridiculous numbers of clasps and buckles in a desperate attempt to get somehow closer to him. Somehow, Garrus’s better judgment prevailed and he let a little more of his weight settle on top of her, pinning her arms between their chests. A white-hot spark of desire flashed in her eyes, but she relented and her hands returned to the back of his head, massaging his fringe as he kissed his way down her strong jawline and into the hollow at the base of her ear. It was taking all of his strength to keep his hips from reacting the way they wanted to, but he knew as well as she did that this was definitely not the place for that sort of behavior. No matter how far they might have been pushing the boundaries on what was technically acceptable – even for a Primarch and a Councilor - just then.

“Chief Primarch, there’s an urgent message for you and Councilor – Oh!” A thin, squeaking voice came from the doorway, and Garrus’s head snapped up from where he had been lavishing kisses all across the pale column of Shepard’s neck, tracing with his tongue the map of scars that he had memorized by now. It took an enormous amount of willpower to bite back the frustrated growl that bubbled up in his throat, but the salarian looked terrified enough as it was. Her small, ivy-green face, with cognac eyes the size of Palaven right about now, stared at the floor, the ceiling, the wall, anywhere but the two intertwined and panting galactic leaders on the desk in front of her. This was someone new, an assistant that Garrus only vaguely recognized. Then he recalled exactly who she was.

The intern. She’d only been here for a few days now, shadowing various politicians around the embassies, and Garrus had completely forgotten that she had been assigned to observe a holoconference that he had scheduled for later this afternoon. Before that, he was supposed to meet with her to give a brief overview of his duties and explain some of the more intricate workings of the Hierarchy. Yet another thing he had completely lost track of as soon as Shepard’s hips had swayed so temptingly into view. 

“Oh, _oh_ my goodness,” the young salarian stuttered, “I’m s-so sorry, Primarch V-v-Vakarian. I’ll, uh, I’ll come back later or... Or something, I don’t know, umm. I mean, this is kind of urgent, sir, so I really _can’t_ come back later, but I see that you two were obviously in the, uh... in the middle of something, so –“

It was still incredibly strange for Posey to hear people referring to Garrus as a Primarch. Back when the war raged on, they’d joked back and forth about where Garrus actually stood by way of military rankings. He’d always brushed the questions away with humor or a quick subject change, but she’d seen the way that Generals and even Admirals of the various Hierarchy branches all paid him deference in their encounters.

When he returned with the Normandy seven years after the destruction of the Reapers, everyone was busy being absolutely dumbfounded that they were alive, so the question of his status fell to the wayside.

Until a couple of months ago, that is, when Dianna Allers had broken the news to the galaxy that Garrus Vakarian and Commander-turned-Councilor Posey Shepard were planning to wed. According to those who advised the Councilors, it simply wouldn’t do for a Councilor to marry a ‘commoner’. So Primarch Victus had made it a personal mission of his to reinstate Garrus, and to then raise him even higher than whatever he’d been.

Apparently that warranted appointing Garrus to the level of _Chief_ Primarch of the Turian Hierarchy.

Posey hadn’t even realized that there was more than one Primarch, much less a whole _council_ of them. A leader for each turian-controlled planet, and each and every one of them now reported to Garrus. During the war, there had been such an astounding number of deaths and disappearances that the entire Hierarchy had been thrown into disarray. After the war was over, as more and more mass relays were reconstructed, the various military and political organizations of each and every species was left to determine who would take the place of the many that had fallen. At that time, Councilor Sparatus had been the foremost choice for Chief Primarch, but he had vehemently refused to take on such a task in his old age. So Victus had come forward and taken over, and for his six-year run he hadn’t done a half-bad job. But upon Garrus’s return, Victus had been rather eager to step down and defer judgment to the younger turian. It still didn’t quite make sense to Posey, but then again turians had always been somewhat confusing in their structure.

Now Garrus had work all the time, never lacking for something to do. Once a month, he had to host a conference with every Primarch in attendance, be it physically or by hologram, as well as Councilor Sparatus and the heads of the Cabal and the Blackwatch. The meetings could run anywhere from three to nine hours, depending on any number of circumstances that affected their economy and species as a whole. Those days, Posey always had his favorite dinner ready at seven, just in case the conference happened to wrap up in decent time. But more often than not, he wouldn’t stumble in through the door until one or two in the morning, completely exhausted and cursing the names of various Primarchs.

He tired so much more easily these days, after the intensive treatments for Corpalis over the last eight months. According to Dr. Belen, the results had been overall extremely positive, but Garrus was never going to have the boundless energy of before.

That’s why Posey took what time she could out of her own workdays to make little visits like these, though _usually_ they weren’t interrupted. Sarel was very good about holding all of Garrus’s calls or visitors any time Shepard popped in, and would never even knock on the door unless something dire had occurred.

The intern, however, had apparently not gotten the memo. Flustered beyond words, and perhaps even a little embarrassed at being caught undressing his human bondmate in his office during work hours, Garrus reached out a hand with as much patience as he could muster. The girl placed the datapad she held into his waiting grasp and then took a couple of steps backwards. Her foot caught on the corner of the door as she tried to leave, and the glass of neon-blue soda she’d been carrying was suddenly splattered all over the white of her jumpsuit.

She just stood there, mouth open in absolute mortification, ocean-blue stains creeping across her uniform like a spider’s web. Shepard thought to herself that she’d never seen a salarian look so utterly shocked. And that was saying something, considering the amount of time that she’d spent with Mordin, on the Collector mission where scientifically impossible things seemed to throw themselves at their team with every step.

Garrus’s face was suddenly somber when he looked up at the young salarian, nodding tersely. “You’re excused. Thank you for delivering this.” The girl couldn’t get out fast enough, but made sure to watch her steps as she rounded the corner and disappeared. Shepard turned to him, her hand brushing against his arm.

“What’s wrong, Garrus? What is it?”

“It’s for you, actually,” he said softly, brow plates furrowing. “I... You just have to look at it.”

A chill raced across Shepard’s skin, unease pooling in her belly as she took the datapad from his hand. The message was already pulled up, with a subject line simply reading, **_‘I should’ve sent this sooner._ ’**

 

_Posey,_

_This will seem strange to you. Okay, maybe strange isn’t the right word – more like crazy, or stupid. Impossible. Something like that. But this is something that I’ve ~~wanted~~ needed to say for a long time. A really long time. I’m not sure it’s something you’ll want to hear, or if you’ll even believe it, but I’ll say it here anyways. You can do with this information what you wish. _

_On Mindoir, you fought for me. You protected me with everything you had, and you only left when you had no other choice. You thought I was a goner, and you ran to save yourself. I don’t resent you for that, please understand this now. Nothing I’ve been through is your fault, Posey. And I’m not going to go into what happened here, without seeing you face to face. If that’s what you want._

_I survived. There are scars, physical and mental, but I made it through a lot of trouble, and I’m safe now. I’m on Mindoir again, I opened up an orphanage when I came back here. I didn’t even realize you were alive until the news stations were blowing up about you getting engaged._

_Which we can talk about when (if) you come to visit. A turian, Posey? What the hell?_

_Anyways, I hope this gets to you. The comms signals here on Mindoir have just recently gone back up, and they’re still working on making them consistent. So, if you do get this... I hope you come visit. Or at least respond to this message, so that I know you’re really okay. Plus, there’s some people I want you to meet._

_I hope I get to hear from you soon. I miss you, so much more than you know._

_All my love,_

_PCS_

 

The datapad fell from Shepard’s grasp, clattering on the floor. Garrus’s hands were instantly on her arms, supporting her in case she were to crumple in shock. His icy gaze searched hers for answers, concern etched in his handsome features as he brushed a strand of hair behind her ear.

“Posey, who was that from?”

Her fingers shook as she gestured limply at the datapad on the floor. It took a few breaths to summon enough air into her lungs to speak, but when she did her voice was choked and breathless with excitement. “Poppy. Poppy Claire Shepard.”

Comprehension broke like the dawn over Garrus’s face, reflecting the swell of Shepard’s heart in her chest.

“Garrus, that’s a message from my sister.”


	2. Melodies

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Posey can't decide how she feels about the letter she's received - is it real or fake? The tension begins to take a toll on her sleeping habits.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Holy sweet MAKER I feel so, so awful about taking such a long time to update this. College has been crazy already, and I have a friend who's in the hospital now with a lot of issues going on. Please forgive the ridiculous amount of time that has passed since I posted the first chapter - I realize that this doesn't have just a whole lot of content, but I felt like it was an important piece to add in! Hopefully I can get the next chapter out within the next few weeks. 
> 
> Thank you so much to everyone who keeps up with Posey Shepard and all of her adventures. I appreciate you guys more than I can say.

The weight of a down comforter, embroidered with tiny pink flowers all over, was all the help that Posey needed to fall into a deep sleep after an exhausting day. She’d gotten to work at six that morning, and hadn’t stopped going until eleven that evening. Between working at the market, school, and cooking dinner for Poppy, there hadn’t been a moment for her to even take a breath, much less do her homework. But her Galactic Languages teacher, Mr. Shann, would surely allow her one pass, given how hard she worked in his class. While she struggled with math and sometimes history, alien languages seemed to come to her easily. She didn’t like to refer to herself as a star student, but that’s what all the other kids thought of her as, in Mr. Shann’s class at least.

The sound of rain pattering against her window was a gentle lullaby, coupled with Poppy’s quiet snoring from across the room. Posey took a deep breath and turned to her side, pulling her old, tattered stuffed elcor close to her chest. Just as she settled into the perfect sleeping position, there was a deep rumble that shook the very walls of the Shepard home. Posey sat bolt upright in bed, eyes wide. She slipped out of bed and pulled aside one of the curtains at the window, heaving a relieved sigh when logic kicked in and she realized that it was simply a loud clap of thunder. As her heart slowed, she climbed back in amongst her covers and pillows and pulled her stuffed animal close again. Poppy remained asleep, slumbering like a bear in winter. Posey’s eyes shut slowly, lids heavy with exhaustion.

Once again, just as she shut her eyes, a rumble shook the house. But something about it felt different, more solid. Closer, somehow.

Just then, a door slammed somewhere in another room, and suddenly there were angry shouts in a dialect that she didn’t know. Petrified, Posey grew entirely still in her bed, covers drawn up over her head and breath coming in short, silent gasps. Heavy footsteps fell closer and closer, stomping down the hallway accompanied by two familiar voices calling out her name. She didn’t move.

Her bedroom door flew open and smacked the wall, knocking some of Poppy’s framed art to the floor with a crash of shattered glass. Posey stopped breathing, her chest pounding as she tried so hard not to move an inch. The bedroom door slammed shut again, and suddenly something was ripping her covers back, causing Posey to let out a terrified scream. A warm, soft hand clamped down over her mouth, and suddenly she was looking up into the familiar face of her mother. She stopped trying to claw away and relaxed slightly, waiting until her mother removed her hand from over Posey’s mouth. Posey sat up slowly, startled when her mother dove in for a crushing hug.

“I love you so much,” she whispered in Posey’s ear, her curly blonde hair brushing against Posey’s cheek. “Just remember that.”

“Mom, what’s going on?” As her mother pulled out of the embrace, Posey saw over her shoulder that her father had woken Poppy and was now pulling a dresser across the door. “Dad? What’s happening?”

“There’s no time,” her father said quietly, shoving a chair under the doorknob for good measure. He crossed the room again quickly, pulling Poppy up until she was standing beside the window. Posey got up on her own, reaching for Poppy’s little hand by instinct. Her younger sister’s eyes, the same lavender as Posey’s own, were wild and frightened, and her hand squeezed Posey’s so tight that it felt like bones would shatter any moment. Their father bent down on one knee in front of them, pressing one finger to his lips. “Don’t be scared, little flower,” he murmured to Poppy, offering a weak smile. The wet sheen in his eyes was by far the scariest thing Posey had seen so far, but she tried not to show it as she wrapped her arms around Poppy’s tiny shoulders. Their father looked up at both of them, his firm chin quivering just slightly beneath his dark stubble, crimson with just the faintest dusting of grey throughout.  

“You girls are my greatest blessing,” he said softly, cupping a big, calloused hand around each of their cheeks. “Now, no matter what happens, you two have to take care of each other, okay? Be strong. Posey, you remember where the emergency shelter is, right?”

She nodded slowly, jolting when something heavy slammed against the barricaded door. Poppy let out a little squeal, burrowing her face into Posey’s chest with a whimper. “Go,” their father whispered, standing and grabbing the antique lamp from Posey’s bedside table. Their mother pulled them close into a hug, her shoulders shaking as she gently caressed her children’s hair and pressed numerous wet kisses to the crowns of their heads.

Glass shattered, causing Posey to jump in surprise, and when she turned around her window was gone. Her father reached out to swipe some of the shards from the edges, but then the sound of wood splintering echoed through the room. The dresser fell against the floor with a loud crash, the chair snapped into pieces as the door was forced open, and Posey caught a glimpse of a horrid slime-green face, with too many orange eyes narrowed over the scope of a weapon pointed right at them. Then their mother was in front of them, shielding her children with her body. Posey felt a firm grasp on her wrist, the scrape of glass against her body, and then searing pain across her palms. Their father’s voice rang out again, stronger now and defiant as he stared down the intruders. “ _GO!_ ” Posey’s feet scrambled for purchase in the pile of shattered glass, but then she was running, no, _flying_ across the field behind their home. Suddenly she stopped short, and turned to scan over her shoulder. Poppy was still scrabbling in the glass, her face contorted in agony even as she tried to stay quiet as she could.

Posey’s hands pulsed with pain as she hurled herself back towards the house. Her legs stretched out as far as they would go, lungs drawing in as much breath as they could manage. The distance between she and her little sister closed bit by bit. She was so close now, close enough to see the tears streaking down Poppy’s face and the red gashes criss-crossing her trembling knees as she finally managed to stand up.

The unfamiliar sound of weapons firing brought Posey to a screeching halt once more. Poppy turned towards the blasts, and was greeted with the terrifying face of another one of the aliens. Its well-muscled arms were tangled with their mother’s, fighting for a position in front of the window. The alien fought with incredible strength, but it was distracted as its gaze focused solely on Poppy’s frozen figure, just out of reach.

Her mother’s face bore an unrecognizable expression of pure rage. Her lips pulled back across her teeth, a mirror image of the way the alien bared its canines. Blonde curls snapped and danced around her face as they grappled, until another alien hand appeared out of nowhere and wrenched a hand into her hair.

Posey watched with horror as her mother disappeared from view through the window, leaving the thing she’d been fighting unoccupied. It seemed to take the creature a few moments to realize that its fight was momentarily over. But when it did, its lips curled up in a blood-chilling grin. Lightning quick, it leaned out through the window and clenched its fists around one of Poppy’s arms. Posey couldn’t tell if it was her scream or Poppy’s that she heard then, but she could do nothing but watch, frozen and useless, as her sister was dragged back through the window, wailing and kicking and biting and clawing everything she could get her hands on.

Another blast of weaponry jolted Posey back into action, turning on her heel and running faster than she’d thought humanly possible before. Tears raced down her cheeks, sobs sucking away at her precious breaths as she followed the well-hidden, but familiar, path to her family’s emergency shelter. It was intended for natural disasters – tornados, fires, or even one of the more violent tornados that so frequently swept the surface of Mindoir. Never had they imagined it being a safe haven from a violent invasion.

She found the tree that marked the area, counting out eleven equal steps to the south. With a sweep of her hand, she cleared the leaves and forest debris from the hidden door. It creaked open and Posey froze, looking around her to make sure nothing had managed to follow her here. When she saw no further sign of movement, she let out a deep breath and slid into the dank, cold darkness of the shelter.

 

#

 

Goosebumps raced across her skin as Posey sat bolt upright in her bed, shivering. It had been weeks since she’d had a nightmare, and decades since it had been one about the attack that killed her family on Mindoir. As her chest shuddered, struggling to take in a proper breath without waking Garrus, she drew her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around herself. The vividness of that day was forever burned in her memory, but it had been such a long time since she’d dreamed of Mindoir that the nightmare brought it back all too forcefully. Poppy’s message, whether real or fake, had stirred up those memories once again. Posey wasn’t sure whether to be elated or angry at that.

She slid quietly out of bed and grabbed the walking cane that Dr. Belen had been trying to get her to use more often. Her hips hadn’t been getting any better since the war, but it had taken her this long to finally give in to the help that the cane offered. Even so, she only used it occasionally, for short trips to the bathroom or across the house. She was careful not to let it hit the ground too hard, for fear of waking Garrus. He slept so little some nights, dealing with the ever-present ache of his old war wounds and the daily toll of his position as Chief Primarch. He needed all the rest he could get, and Posey would have felt absolutely terrible if he were to lose any of that precious sleep because of her own problems. He would be there to talk about it in the morning, if it was still bothering her. That much she knew.

Her feet made nary a sound as she tiptoed out of the bedroom and down the stairs, her path well-lit by the glow of dancing lights from outside. She padded across to the massive window of the apartment, brushing a hand across the cool glass before laying her temple against it and pulling in a deep breath.

“Just a dream,” she murmured to herself, fingernails digging briefly into her own palm, just to make sure. “It was only a dream.” By now, her heart rate had begun to slow back down, and she felt as though she could breathe normally again. Her gaze drew out across the neon glare of the Sunset Strip, a view etched into her memory from so many nights spent in this very spot, staring out at the crowds of people she had saved once so long ago. Before Garrus and the others had returned with the Normandy, this view had been as close to solid ground as she ever felt. Back then, she couldn't bear to look around her apartment for fear of the memories that would haunt what little sleep she would get later that night.

But now, this view was okay. This view was home, because _he_ was okay. Garrus was here and he was safe, sleeping soundly in their bed with the covers pulled up around his cowl like a little child.

Posey sighed deeply, stepping back from the window. As she turned to make a brief round of the living room in the hopes of stretching out her hips, her eyes rested on the piano in the corner. The memory of Liara's hands brushing deftly over the keys brought back another song, another melody that Posey had nearly forgotten by now.

When she and Poppy were both very young, their mother had scooted both of them up onto the bench of their incredibly old piano in the living room. She'd taken one of each of their hands and placed them on the keys under her own fingers, and then she'd taught them a song. Just a simple melody, easy to remember and to play. Over time, they'd become quite proficient at playing the song together, Posey's fingers carefully pressing at the treble notes with one hand while Poppy danced and lilted effortlessly through the lower notes, ever the musician.

Posey stepped closer to the piano, a slight twitch in her fingers as they laid against the cool ivory keys. One by one, the notes came back to her, and she picked them out slowly. The familiarity of the tune stirred tears into her eyes, but her fingers kept moving, desperate to hold on to this memory for just a few moments longer. Even if it didn't sound quite right - the higher notes by themselves didn't sound whole without Poppy's effortless lower tones dancing through them, making the whole song seem emptier somehow - it made a part of her feel like maybe Poppy's letter was real. Maybe there was a chance at having her sister back, after all these years apart.

The tune came easier now, drifting through the still air of the apartment even as tears made their way down Shepard's cheeks. If she closed her eyes and thought about it hard enough, she could almost recall the sound of her mother's voice, singing softly over the melody her children played.

A warm touch to her shoulder startled her into a yelp, and she turned around to see Garrus standing behind her, his eyes narrowed with concern. Posey moved to wipe off her cheeks but he stopped her by grabbing her wrists, impossibly small in his hands. He lowered her hands to her sides and used the back of his own finger to gently dry her face. Then he was kneeling down, carefully to avoid hurting the leg with the prosthetic on. When he'd gotten settled comfortably on his knees in front of her, she sat down gingerly on the piano bench, staring down at her hands in her lap. A blunted talon tipped her chin back up, until she was looking Garrus in the eyes. He made no indication that he wished to say anything, though he couldn't help the nervous twitching of his mandibles.

"Bad dream," Posey muttered, reaching one of her hands out to grasp his. "Mindoir."

His eyes widened, and he nodded slowly in understanding. "Is this because of Poppy's letter?"

"Yeah."

Silence followed for a few moments, until Garrus sighed deeply and looked down at the floor. "You should go."

"What?"

"To Mindoir," Garrus said quietly, taking her other hand in his. "I'll go with you, if you want. But the sooner you face this, figure out if it's real or not, the sooner we can figure out what to do with it. I know you're scared that this may not really be her, and I'll admit it's a longshot, and it's certainly crazy to wrap your head around. But if it's not, then we move on. And if it _is_ her? If she's still alive, after all these years? Then we meet her, figure out what happened back on Mindoir. Help her if she needs it. . . It seems simple enough to me."

Posey turned to stare out the window, contemplating her options. Garrus was right - with everything laid on the table for her to see, it was simple enough to go to Mindoir and see for herself. The Council certainly couldn't complain about her taking a few days' vacation for something like this.

She nodded resolutely and pulled up her omnitool, punching in a few codes and then typing out her secure message to the other members of the Council. When she had finished, she closed the omnitool back down and met Garrus's eyes once again, this time letting a small smile grace the corners of her lips.

"All right. We'll go." When he offered a supportive flick of his mandibles, Posey leaned forward and wrapped her arms around his cowl, pulling him up onto his knees to bury her face in his neck. "Thank you," she breathed quietly, smiling when his arms wrapped gently around her waist. A small purr came from his throat as he pressed a quick kiss to the crown of her head before disentangling himself and standing. He held his hand out to help her up and pressed her cane into the other hand, smirking when she shot him an annoyed frown.

"Doctor's orders," Garrus chuckled, sliding an arm around her waist once again and leading her towards the stairs.


	3. Vacations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's favorite volus ambassador is at it again, and Posey and Garrus make the trip to Mindoir.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I don't even have an excuse at this point for the horrendous delay in updating this. I just haven't been able to get much written on this, I'm not sure if it's writer's block or what. I've got things mostly planned out how I want them to go, I just can't get the words down on the page. 
> 
> Again, I'm so sorry for how long this is taking to update. But I hope you all enjoy what I've got for you in the next few chapters, whenever I manage to get those out. <3

Shepard fought the urge to throw her datapad at the volus ambassador. They'd put off hearing his latest complaints for months now, but finally they had no other choice but to squeeze him into the Council's schedule. Even Ecron, the salarian councilor, was nearly nodding off at his podium, kept awake only by the occasional nudge from Tevos. Even Councilor Sparatus, who was usually the most amicable of all the councilors towards the prattling volus ambassador, kept throwing glances Shepard's way, clearly communicating how annoyed he was at this point.

Shepard lifted her wrist to peer at the small time display on her omnitool. They'd been here far too long already, and she had much more important places to be. With a glance and a nod towards Tevos, Shepard cleared her throat and held up a hand to quiet the volus.

"I'm terribly sorry, Ambassador," she said with as much sincerity as she could possibly muster. She wasn't sorry at all, nor were any of the other councilors, but they had to get him to shut up somehow without ruining all volus relations. "But we're simply out of time for today. While we respect the concerns you've brought forth this time, in addition to all your previous complaints, we will have to re-adjourn some other time. Our secretary will be able to... schedule another appointment for you, if you so desire."

With an angry little wheeze, the volus turned on his heels and wobbled out of the chambers, muttering something under his breath.

"By the Goddess," Tevos groaned as soon as they were sure the ambassador was gone. "It's amazing to me how long that man can blather on about the most ridiculous nonsense. Councilor Cratazan, why in the world would you feel the need to keep asking him questions like that? Did you really wish for this meeting to run half an hour past schedule?"

The krogan councilor shrugged, a smirk playing on his lips. "Thought it'd be fun," he chuckled darkly. "Plus, he had some new ideas this time. They were almost interesting." Tevos gave a massive roll of her eyes and shook her head, rubbing at her temples.

"Perhaps we should limit him to one Council meeting per year," she half-laughed. "That way we could just prepare for the Annual Volus Ambassador Meeting. It could be a big event, we'd all get drunk beforehand and make it a party."

"Perhaps you should stop agreeing to hear his requests on days that I am not present at Council meetings," Posey snorted, powering off the podium in front of her.

"Yes, well, we can't all just drop everything to take a month's vacation with little more than a moment's notice," Tevos muttered back, her eyes glued to the datapad in front of her. Shepard rolled her eyes and shrugged off her white formal jacket anyways, draping it over an arm as she gathered her things.

"I thought we'd agreed these were extenuating circumstances, Tevos," Posey replied coolly, at which point Ecron looked up at her with vibrant, wide eyes.

"Extenuating circumstances, yes," he said rapidly, typing away on something at his podium. "But a month seems... excessive."

"The trip to Mindoir takes six days by itself, plus six days coming back. I'll only really be there for two weeks." Before she turned to walk away, she caught a glimpse of Tevos shaking her head with a sour expression. Shepard was halfway down the staircase now, and just shrugged in response without even turning to face the other councilors. "See you all in a month!" she called cheerily over her shoulder as she tugged open the massive silver doors and marched out to the lobby.

Garrus was waiting at their private skycar terminal, and grinned when he saw her exiting the Council headquarters. Her pace increased until she was practically jogging towards him, ignoring the painful ache in her hip.  

"You ready to go?" Garrus said with a grin as he pulled open the door for her. Posey, practically vibrating with excitement, slid into the car with a brilliant smile and took his hand as he sat down beside her in the driver's seat. As Garrus revved the engine and sped off towards the New Citadel's docking bay, Posey looked out the window and sighed happily, squeezing Garrus's hand that wasn't wrapped around the wheel.

"Let's go meet my sister."

* * *

 

_She stepped off the ship and straight into the soft grass of her childhood, eyes wide at just how similar it felt to the memories of picnics she'd once taken with her family as a tiny, barefooted girl._

_Though the grass felt the same, the rest of the town looked different, filled with perfectly identical grey housing units where there once had been rows of colorful houses. But the street names were the same, and Posey found it strangely easy to remember where to turn, which street to cross, what tree would serve as a landmark for the building that Poppy had directed her to for their meeting._

_Upon seeing it, Shepard couldn’t help but gasp quietly. An old and weary-looking structure awaited ahead, still intact but certainly deteriorating. Posey walked alone slowly towards the building, a sense of unease settling over her with every stride. The steps of the front porch creaked beneath her weight, the splintered wood poking at her fingertips as she traced the railing. The door of the home was worn, painted a shade of red that, at one point, may have been vibrant and beautiful but was now a bitter reminder of something long gone._

_Posey gently rapped her knuckles against the dull wood, the sharp taps only adding to the strange silence that permeated the air around her. But when the door creaked open, it was not a face that she'd ever wanted to see again._

_Four glaringly orange eyes, lips pulled back in a blood-chilling grin, its green arms reaching towards her like they'd reached for Poppy so long ago --_

A wave of turbulence jolted Shepard out of her fitful sleep. Garrus was already awake, looking down at her with concerned eyes when he felt her move. She just shook her head, not feeling up to explaining the nightmare that had plagued her sleep this time. With a little grunt of discomfort, Shepard swung her legs over the side of the bed and set her feet on the floor. As she stood, Garrus grumbled and stretched on the bed, rolling into the space she had just vacated. He gently brushed his fingers down her spine, the warmth of his hands helping to diminish the goosebumps that the nightmare had left behind.

 

The entire trip to Mindoir, Shepard had found it hard to breathe. Even without the tight-laced jacket of her Council uniform, she felt like her lungs couldn't quite expand enough to get in a good breath. Garrus sat beside her, silent most of the time, rubbing a gentle hand over her shoulder in an attempt to calm her shattered nerves.

This was it. She'd gone throughout life, for twenty four years now, thinking that her entire family had been wiped out in the batarian attack. But now, after all this time, she had someone. If this was real, if Poppy was really waiting for her on that windswept planet, then everything Shepard had ever wanted would be within her grasp. She had Garrus, now - which, after all the close calls they'd had in the war, was a miracle in and of itself. She still had a few close friends, those who had survived and made it back.

And, if today went according to plan, she would have a sister again.

Posey wrapped her hand tighter around Garrus's, sucking in a deep breath through her nose and counting to ten as she exhaled.

"Councilor Shepard, we will be docking in approximately one hour," came a soothing AI's voice over the intercom. She nodded in response, knowing that only Garrus could see the gesture, but also knowing that her pilot wasn't expecting her to verbally reply. Not when she was this nervous. The pilot had seen firsthand how jittery she was when they'd boarded the private transport ship and he'd begun the preflight checks of the cabin. Her hands still hadn't stopped shaking, even now that they'd been jumping through relays for six days now. The only time her nerves had quieted during this whole trip was when she slept, wrapped up in Garrus's arms in the small bed of the private cabin on the ship. Even then, her dreams had prevented her from getting truly rested.

One night, it was the nightmare of the attack on Mindoir. The next, a memory of the last push to the Crucible, saying goodbye to Garrus as London crumbled around them.  Last night's nightmare had been by far the worst, though.

Shepard stared down at her omnitool, reading over the latest message from Poppy. Not that she didn't have it memorized already - she'd committed to memory every scrap of correspondence she'd received from her sister since that day in Garrus's office. But seeing the words on the screen, her sister's name at the bottom of the message, it was all a reminder that this was actually happening. She was descending through the atmosphere of Mindoir, an hour away from setting foot on a planet - her home planet - a place she hadn't been since she was sixteen years old.

She was breathless with equal parts terror and longing for everything to go right. For once.

* * *

 

As the taxi pulled to a stop in front of the address that Poppy had given her, Posey fought the urge to vomit. She was completely incapable of forming a coherent thought by now, and Garrus had to practically drag her out of the car, pushing her onto the sidewalk as he grabbed both of their packs with their belongings from the rear of the cab.

When he'd gathered their things, Garrus gently pressed a hand to the small of her back to push her forward, toward the large home in front of them.

The first wave of relief came when the building looked nothing like the decrepit mansion that Posey had seen in her nightmare. It was well-kept, the grass on the lawn neatly trimmed and as bright green as grass could get on Mindoir. A neat path of cobblestones wound gently up to the front porch, covered in scrawled chalk drawings that had been half-washed away by a light rain sometime earlier. The door was a bright, cheery blue, the same color as the sky behind the sparse white clouds that drifted lazily across overhead. An electronic screen stood in the center of the grass, with letters scrolling across in blue that read:

**Safe Harbor Children's Shelter**

And beneath that, in smaller letters but still visible from the road, _In Memory of Robert and Eliza Shepard_.

Posey's eyes locked on those words, for a long time. Reading and re-reading them, trying to remember how long it had been since she'd heard the sound of her mother's voice singing a lullaby, her father's laughter. The warmth of her sister's shoulder as they sat side by side at the old piano. Decades now had passed since those things had been real, something that existed outside of dreams and, more often, nightmares.

Garrus put a hand on the small of her back, gently pulling her back from her thoughts. With tentative steps, she moved down the chalk-covered stone path, hearing only her heart slamming in her chest, the scrape of her shoes and Garrus's boots across the stone, the heft of their bags slung over Garrus's shoulder.

As her foot touched the first step leading up to the door, Posey shook her head violently and turned, only to run into Garrus's solid chest. "I can't, I can't do this," she whimpered, laying her face against him. "What if it's not her?"

"Posey," Garrus said calmly, lifting her chin to look him in the eyes. "What if it is? We've talked about this. You can do it." He wrapped his free arm around her tightly and squeezed for a few moments, until she let out a shaky breath and nodded against him.

"Okay. Okay, let's go." She turned and ascended the short staircase, her hand coming up to hover in front of the door in a fist. One, two, three taps, hardly solid enough to be considered a knock by most people.

Seconds passed, though they felt like years to Shepard as she stood there in front of the door. She almost considered knocking again, but then the thought flashed through her mind that maybe this was where the nightmare began this time. Maybe this was where all the bright colors washed away to leave a cold, bitter slap in the face for believing that Poppy could still be alive, still be here and okay and not completely insane.

But finally, after waiting breathlessly, there came from inside the house a clattering of footsteps down a set of stairs, the tapping of bare feet across a wooden floor, the hum of a heavy lock turning.

 The door opened, and Posey found herself face-to-face with her younger sister, for the first time in twenty four years.

There was no mistaking those wild golden curls, just like their mother's, and the lavender eyes that so perfectly matched Posey's own. Poppy was beaming as she threw open the door.

"Oh my god," the younger woman choked out. "Posey, oh my god, you're here." Then they were together, embracing each other tight enough to wipe out the decades that had separated them. Posey let the tears flow unrestricted as she buried her face in her sister's neck, sobbing loudly. Garrus stood back, suddenly feeling as though he were intruding on something very special and very private.

When Posey straightened, she cupped her hands around Poppy's face, still half-sobbing. "You're... you, it's really you." Poppy nodded and gripped Posey's wrists tightly, leaning into her grasp as her own tears fell down over her freckled cheeks. "I was so scared that you weren't going to be real, that it wasn't you, and I.. I don't -"

Poppy shook her head and swept the tears from Posey's cheek with a gentle hand, even as her own tears fell unattended. "It's me, sis. I'm real."

"Momma?" A tiny little voice came from inside the house, and Poppy turned towards the source. Her hand beckoned, and then a slender little girl of no more than six appeared at Poppy's side, clinging to her leg as she stared up at the stranger in the doorway of their home. "Momma, who's that?"

Poppy grinned and bent down to pick up the child, setting her on her hip and pressing a big, wet kiss to her cheek. "That's your Aunt Posey," she said softly, pointing, and she chuckled when the girl slowly narrowed her hazel eyes in suspicion as she stared closely at Posey's face. The child had curls just as wild as Poppy's, but they were a rich, chestnut brown in color.

"She's got lots of freckles," the child finally said, with a matter-of-fact nod. "Just like you, Momma."

"That's right, just like me. Because she's my sister. Now, will you go find your father, please? Tell him that we have some very important guests." The child giggled and nodded as she squirmed out of Poppy's grasp, disappearing once again into the house. "That was Merida. Little spitfire, that one," she chuckled softly. When she'd made sure the child was gone, she quickly gestured for Posey and Garrus to come inside. Once she shut the door behind them, she immediately turned and stuck her hand out to Garrus, her expression careful and judging.

Garrus slowly put his hand out and shook Poppy's, like Posey had shown him so long ago. "Garrus Vakarian," he said with a kind expression, though the way that Poppy's face remained cautious indicated that she hadn't had quite the exposure to turian facial expressions than Posey had.

"Poppy Evans," she said with a brisk nod, before turning to wink at Posey. "Formerly Poppy Shepard." Posey smiled back at her sister, still shaking with excitement. As the air around them grew quiet and still, enough to make Posey uncomfortable, Poppy leaned forward to take Posey's hand in her own and dragged her further into the house. "Come on, there's some people I want you to meet."


	4. Explanations

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Posey is introduced to some important people, and she finds out the truth about her sister's whereabouts for the last 24 years.
> 
> (P.S. Sorry for the long and unannounced hiatus - school last semester kicked my ass, but I hope this chapter is worth it!)

Garrus and Posey followed Poppy up the stairs of the home, and the closer to the second floor they got, the more they could hear the quiet whispers of children, soft snickers like they'd been told to keep quiet. As soon as Poppy's foot touched the top stair, children flooded into the hallway, all squealing excitedly as they bombarded Poppy and Posey. They all hung back a little from Garrus, but a brave couple of younger ones had enough nerve to poke wonderingly at his prosthetic leg.

"Poppy, that you?" A rich, male voice echoed down the hallway, followed by the sound of more bare feet walking towards them with  a heavier step.

"Right here, babe," Poppy responded, prying the arms of a pudgy toddler from around her calves with a smirk. A second later, a ruggedly handsome man walked around the corner, grinning from ear to ear and gently bouncing a bundled infant in his arms. His hair was dark and unruly, his face peppered with black stubble, but his smile was dazzling. Tiny little fingers wrapped around one of his as he approached. "Asher, I want you to meet Councilor Posey Shepard, savior of the galaxy, third human Councilor. My big sister."

Asher shifted the child to one arm carefully and extended his free hand for a warm handshake with both Posey and Garrus, eyes beaming with delight. "Asher Evans, at your service. I'm glad you guys are finally here, Poppy's been just about to lose her mind with excitement ever since you wrote back. Should've seen her trying to clean up around here the last couple of days, good lord."

Poppy tossed a warm glare at her husband, shaking her head. "Exaggeration, all of it. I was just really excited for you guys to get here, that's all."

"We're really excited to be here, too, Poppy," Posey said with a grin, giving her sister's hand a squeeze. The blonde smiled, flashing straight white teeth. "But you'll have to introduce me to all of these adorable kids at some point, right?" Posey carefully knelt down, ruffling the auburn curls of the child closest to her, who squealed in delight and ran off into one of the open bedrooms. Three or four of the others followed, disappearing with a fit of giggles as the door shut behind them. A few remained in the hallway, gathered together and whispering behind little hands, throwing appraising glances towards Posey and, more carefully, Garrus.

One little hand reached out to tug at Asher's pant leg, and he looked down to see an anxious raven-haired boy looking up at him with frightful hazel eyes. Asher shifted the baby to his other arm and knelt down, allowing the boy, who appeared to be five or six perhaps, to whisper loudly in Asher's ear. Just then, the infant started to cry loudly, but Asher remained patient and smoothed a hand over her back as he let the little boy finish whatever he was saying. Posey couldn't quite make out what the child said over the sobbing infant, but she caught the general " _what the hell is that_ " vibe from the tone of the child's voice.  When the boy was done speaking, Asher met his eyes, with all the gentle seriousness he could muster.

"His name is Garrus, Percy, and he's a turian. There's nothing to be scared of, I promise." The boy still seemed doubtful, though he let Asher stand back up without a fuss. Garrus knelt down then, making careful eye contact with Percy. He set his and Shepard's bags down on the floor, and extended a hand towards Percy, moving slowly and giving the boy a chance to retreat if he wanted.

"It's okay to be scared," Garrus said softly. "I'm scared of a lot of things, too. But I'm not going to hurt you, or anyone else here. I'm friendly, I promise."

Percy stared for a few moments more, and then his little hand reached out towards Garrus. Chubby fingers just barely touched the leathery skin of Garrus' hands, and then Percy retracted, still afraid. But when Garrus didn't move a muscle, Percy reached out again, even going so far as to take a couple of steps forward, away from the safety of Asher's side. His little fingers traced the back of Garrus' hand again, his eyes slowly going wide with wonder. The tiniest smile appeared, shy and precious, and then he ran off into the room the other children had fled into, with the other three who had remained behind with Percy chasing off after him.

Asher just chuckled and shook his head lovingly, bouncing the little girl in his arms to quiet her as he faced Garrus and Posey again. "I'm thinking Eliza's due for her nap, so I'll go ahead and go get her put down in the crib. That'll give you guys some time to talk. I'm sure there's a lot to catch up on, you know?"

Poppy nodded and stepped forward to give Asher a kiss on his stubbled cheek, and then kissed little Eliza's forehead gently, a tender smile crossing her face. "Sweet dreams, baby girl," she whispered as Asher walked back downstairs towards the first floor. Poppy then turned to Posey and Garrus and smiled again, though it was a bit more forced now. "Come on into the study, you guys," she said as she waved a hand toward the door immediately to their right. They did so, Poppy coming in behind them.

As soon as the door closed behind them, Poppy heaved a sigh of relief and chuckled, pushing her hands back through her curled hair. "I love all those kids, but they're so much, so full of energy sometimes." She gestured to two worn leather chairs in front of a desk, and took her own seat behind the desk. After shuffling away a few datapads and pushing them into a drawer full of disorganized file bins, she took the coffee mug in front of her and drew a long sip from it. Garrus set his and Posey's bags down by the door to the study and then took his seat beside Posey, crossing his good leg casually over his prosthetic.

Posey's knee bounced nervously as a silence fell over the room, one that permeated the air with an uncomfortable sort of tension. It hung like a thick, suffocating cloud, heavy with the weight of sixteen years of memories to share and no idea where to start.

"So where the hell have you been?"

It was apparently not the question that Poppy was expecting. She blinked for a few moments, folding her hands together on the desk, and took a deep breath to steady herself.

"Well," she began slowly, "We've been here on Mindoir for... oh, eleven years now I think? Before that, Omega, and before that... With them. I was just twelve when they took me, but I wasn't able to make it out for a long time. Without Asher, I would probably still be there, mindless under the implant or fighting and screaming every step of the way. Or I'd be dead."

"Gotta say, Poppy, I never saw you as the fighting and screaming type."

"Yeah, well. Kidnapping and imprisonment will do that to you. I didn’t stay that way, they made sure of that. It's not like I was exactly cooperative at first, you know. I did fight back from the get-go, from the second they dragged me onto their ship. Guess they didn't expect a twelve-year-old to have much fight in her, but one of those fuckers got too close one day. Kicked him in the ribs so hard that it punctured a lung in three separate spots. Died on the spot. That was two weeks after I'd first been shot up with all sorts of shit - they said it was vaccinations, but who was going to believe them - and let out of quarantine. But once they figured out you were a threat, or that you even had any strength left in you, I guess, they jammed in one of the control implants and you were subdued, for the most part. You could still eat, drink, perform basic functions on your own. But your body was no longer your own. I... I still feel that buzzing in my head, sometimes, like my body is about to do something that I have no control over."

"Control implants? What... What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Exactly what you think it means, Posey. Mind control. I never would have danced for one of them if I didn't have electricity jammed into my brain to make me dance just like they wanted."

"A mind control implant? You're serious? I thought that was just a rumor; I had no idea they had that kind of technology."

"Well, I can confirm they had it," Poppy said with a dark smirk. "And they knew all too well how to use it to its fullest potential. If you didn't cooperate with where you were assigned to... serve, or if you were too violent, or too smart, they'd knock you out while you slept one day and you'd wake up with a throbbing headache and feeling like a thousand bees are tap dancing at the back of your skull."

The dredging up of these memories seemed to stun Poppy for a few moments, and she stared silently at her hands, folded on the desk in front of her. A visible chill passed through her, goosebumps rising on her skin. Her hand moved slowly to her neck, pausing there briefly, before she swept up the mass of golden curls into a hand-held topknot. With a slow, careful turn, she revealed the nape of her neck to Posey and Garrus, her eyes squeezed shut even as she faced away from them.

Posey couldn't help but gasp, her hand tightening around Garrus's as she took it in. A jagged, twisted scar arcing across the base of Poppy's skull, pale flesh marred so many years ago that had never been allowed to heal correctly. There was a noticeable pit in the center, where a hole might have been once.  Tears sprang to Posey's eyes. Garrus remained quiet, but the drop of his mandibles indicated that he was just as stunned by this display as Posey was. The keening subvocals that rumbled from his chest spoke of empathy, horror, and an almost undetectable note of restrained rage.

"Not pretty, I know," Poppy said quietly, letting her hair fall back to cover the scars. "But hey, the implant's gone now. And it sure looks a hell of a lot better than it did when... Well, when they first put it in."

Posey fumbled for words, fighting to think of something to say. Finally, a question came to mind, but one she wasn't sure she could ask.

Her sister turned before Posey could speak, though, and caught the look in her eyes. With a gentle nod, she murmured, "Go ahead. You want to say something, say it. You don't have to tiptoe around me, Posey."

"What did they do to you?"

Poppy's eyes darkened, memories clouding them once again. "Everything you can imagine. Some kids got used as testers for drugs, some of them were in the factories. When we were old enough, or when we at least looked old enough to those monsters, we were auctioned off as sex slaves. After that, I don't remember many specific things about my time there. I... So much of what I went through there, I've blocked out. Bringing up some of those memories is something that I don't think I'm physically capable of anymore. But there were still kids in there when I left, little ones who were brought in even younger than I was. It makes me sick just thinking about them, about us leaving them behind. There were other kids from Mindoir in there, classmates and friends who never made it out as far as I know. I think about those kids every day, when I look at my own children and at the orphans. That's a guilt I won't ever get over."

"How did you get out?"

A little warmth came back to Poppy's eyes then, though sadness still dwelled there. "Like I said, it was actually Asher's idea. Would never have worked without him. From the very beginning, he'd been the cooperative one. Never had to get an implant, so they never had any sort of actual control over him. He found a way to get in contact with a smuggling ship, one that would buy slaves and then release them a few relay jumps over. I don't quite remember the trip, my thought processes were still too fucked from the implant. But we hopped off the ship on Omega, figured it would be easy to blend in there. I was twenty-three by then, dancing and performing at night in some of the sketchier clubs, working on machinery during the day. Saved and scrimped for three years, until Asher and I both had enough to leave."

Poppy yawned casually, and settled back more comfortably into her chair, the worst part of the story to tell behind her. "So then we came here, to Mindoir. Comms were still down when we got here, since the infrastructure never quite recovered from the attack. But we got local news, had the weather, so we never thought much of it. Eventually, we found a place that the two of us could just barely afford, and decided to open the orphanage in our house. We had plenty of room, we figured we might as well do something good with all this space. Kids of our own were discussed, pretty soon Merida was on the way, then Gabriel. And now Eliza, plus all of the other kids. We don't have space for a lot of kids, but we take as many as we can. We've got nine now, plus our own three. It's cramped, but they need us. We've found homes for seven children so far, but new ones come in just as quickly as the old ones are adopted."

"Wait, wait," Posey half-coughed out. "You were a dancer on Omega?" Poppy just shrugged and nodded, far too nonchalant about the whole thing.

"For three years, yeah. Did what I had to do. Never got into the classier places, if such a thing existed there. But we made it work. We made it here. And you know what, if anything that I've heard about you is true, you've been through some shit, too. And you're here. Both of you, together."

"And the both of us, Poppy. God, I was sure I'd never see you again. I'd given up completely, I'll be honest. If I had known you were alive, where you were... I would have found you." Her throat became thick as tears threatened to spill from her eyes again. "I would have saved you, and Asher, and everyone there, and you wouldn't have had to - "

"Posey, don't you dare. You and I both know that what's in the past can't be changed. You most of all, I think. You've seen enough to know that things happen and they're done, and that all we can do is look forward to what's ahead of us. You have Garrus, and you have me." She looked between Posey and Garrus and gave a somewhat sad smile, nodding towards him before returning her gaze to Posey. "I have you, and Asher, and my kids, and all of the orphanage children. My past does not define me, and I'm not afraid of the future because I know that they will never hurt me or my children again. That life is done." Poppy stood and walked around her desk, coming to kneel in front of Posey's chair. Her hands squeezed Shepard's knees gently, and lavender eyes met Shepard's own.

"None of this is your fault, Posey. We were just kids, for god's sake. We weren't supposed to know how to defend ourselves from something like that. No matter what happened to me back then, I'm here now. You and me both made it, and now you're getting married, and nothing could bring me more joy than being able to sit here and talk to you, to feel that you're real." Posey's hands squeezed her sister's and she nodded, leaning forward to press her forehead against Poppy's. "I love you, Posey. You're my big sister. That will never change, no matter what either of us has gone through. I promise, I will be by your side for everything, from here on out."

With her eyes closed Posey took in a deep breath, and said in a shaky voice thick with emotion,

"Be my maid of honor?"

The shift of the mood in the room was nearly tangible as Poppy pulled away for a moment, eyes wide and mouth cracking into a beautiful smile. Poppy nearly jumped into Shepard's lap with delight, all seriousness gone in light of such a joyful and momentous question. Her arms wrapped around Posey's neck, she nodded vigorously and said into Shepard's hair,

"There is nothing in this world I would rather do."


	5. Expeditions

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> In which Poppy realizes it's been three weeks since she went grocery shopping, and decides to take advantage of the extra helping hands.

“All right, you two,” Poppy sighed, her face grim as she turned away from the pantry. “It’s not looking good. We’re pretty low on stuff. Asher’s been working a ton lately so we haven’t really had a chance to go grocery shopping. Is there any way, _any_ way at all I could convince you two to help me take the kids?” Her expression was hopeful, pleading silently over the head of the baby strapped to her chest. Posey and Garrus shot each other a glance, and Garrus just shrugged good-naturedly.

“I don’t see why not,” he chuckled, even as one of the younger girls darted between his legs, nearly bowling him over. As he steadied himself with a hand against the countertop, Poppy breathed a sigh of relief and closed the pantry, engaging the child lock.

“Oh, god, thank you guys so much,” Poppy responded with a grin. “You have no idea how hard it is to find someone who wants to babysit twelve kids. I’m pretty sure that would be cruel and unusual punishment anyway, leaving them alone with all of these heathens. Let’s load ‘em up!” Her yell sounded strangely like a war cry, and there came a cheering response from all corners of the first floor of the home. Children appeared out of every nook and cranny, streaming out of the back door in the kitchen that led to the back yard. Noticing the slightly shocked look on Posey’s face, Poppy smirked. “I love you, but you have no idea what you just signed up for.” They followed the children into the backyard and Posey got her first look at the Evans’ mini-bus cruiser. It was old, and certainly in need of some cosmetic work, but looked safe enough otherwise. The older children had already piled into the vehicle, and the younger ones stood impatiently beside the doors. Poppy took time with each one, first settling Eliza into a safety harness made for infants. Then came Laurel and Raya, and finally Percy. The others knew enough to buckle themselves in, but Poppy hand-checked each safety belt to ensure that it was locked in. With the press of a button by the door, each safety harness secured, preventing any wandering grubby fingers from accidentally unlocking it during the trip. Once everyone was settled, Posey, Poppy, and Garrus squished into a front row made for two.

The drive to the market was only about half an hour, but that was all the time it took for Posey and Garrus to decide that twelve children was far and above too many to have in one vehicle. In that short span of time, there was one shoe lost, four pigtails pulled, and too many crying fits to count. Yet Poppy remained totally composed, repeating after each incident that bad behavior was not rewarded at the supermarket. Posey was very on board with this form of bribery, especially as it would keep the children quiet for at least three minutes until some other issue arose. By the time they arrived, Posey’s ears were ringing from the half hour of shrill cries endured.

Just as quickly as they had piled in, the children streamed out and formed a neat line next to the vehicle as soon as it was parked and turned off. Poppy got out and set about getting Eliza first, strapping the baby back into the harness across her chest so that her hands would be somewhat free. Posey helped as best she could with getting the other squirming children out of their safety harnesses.

By the time they got everything arranged with the children and the shopping cart Poppy had found, Posey was already exhausted. But the work had barely begun. Poppy had a data pad with a list three pages long of groceries and supplies needed, and as she added each bulky crate of items, it became more and more a game of how much stuff they could fit in one cart. Eventually Garrus caved and grabbed another, lifting Laurel up so she could sit in the basket instead of walking beside him.

Merida, the eldest (“by a whole three months!”, as she would proclaim any time someone asked how old she was), was proudly leading the pack of older children ahead of the carts. Each time she found an item that her mother had mentioned, she would enlist the help of another child or two and together they would haul the item carefully into one of the carts. Then she’d take off to find the next thing. With her were Glenn and Jack, the two towheaded brothers, Travis, and Mary, with Kimmy trailing behind them and desperately trying to keep up. That left the three adults with the six younger children, including the infant strapped to Poppy’s chest. Shepard had a little blonde, freckled orphan named Raya and an olive-skinned, raven-haired toddler named Belinda at her side, keeping a careful watch on their wandering hands. Garrus had Laurel in the cart, and Percy snuggled into his cowl with his legs dangling over either shoulder. Poppy was keeping herself as hands-free as possible with Eliza on her chest and Gabriel buckled into the cart. It was almost too many names for Posey to keep straight, but she found herself learning which child was which very quickly as Poppy would call after one of them if they wandered too far.

Two hours and two over-full baskets later, Poppy crossed the final item off of her list. As she handed the data pad to Gabriel to play a game on, she turned to look at Posey with gratitude in her eyes. “God, am I glad you guys are here. Could you imagine doing this alone?” Garrus shook his head a little too emphatically, his eyes wide in terror at the thought of wrangling twelve human children in a supermarket. They all started off towards the checkout lanes, Posey having to gently drag a couple of the older children away from the shimmering toy aisle that had caught their attention.

The line moved fairly quickly, and as Poppy began to unload her items to be checked out, the cashier waved politely. “It’s been a while, Mrs. Evans!” the young woman said in a sweet, customer-service voice. “How’s everything been?” She couldn’t have been more than sixteen – the same age that Posey had been when Mindoir was taken. Working in a market, just like Posey had. _So similar, and yet so different now._ She shuddered away from the thought, focusing instead on the wisps of chocolate brown hair that escaped the girl’s twin braids on her shoulders.

“It’s been good, Katie,” Poppy replied with a smile, taking the data pad back from Gabriel. With a few clicks and taps, a folder pulled up with rows and rows of coupons. She then handed the data pad to the cashier, who nodded good-naturedly. “This’ll be a big bill, that’s for sure. I can’t even remember the last time I could step out to get groceries.”

It was a big bill, indeed. The total of everything was more than Shepard would have paid for a new rifle. The coupons brought it down to a total slightly less stunning, but Poppy seemed very pleased with how the total came out. “You guys have such good prices,” she smiled, as she searched through her pockets for her credit chit. When she found it, she scanned it over her own omnitool briefly to check the balance. Posey knew she shouldn’t pry, but she also knew that taking care of twelve kids couldn’t be easy on a bank account. From the looks of it, there was certainly enough of a balance of Poppy’s credit chit to take care of the groceries – which was in itself surprising – but there wouldn’t be much left over.

As Poppy’s hand lifted the chit towards the cashier, Posey stopped her and handed over her own chit instead. She heard a rumble of approval from Garrus, as though he had thought of doing the same thing. The cashier’s eyes flickered with slight recognition of Posey’s face, but she said nothing as she took the chit from Posey’s outstretched hand. Once she had scanned the chit, though, her eyes went wide.

“Oh, um, oh my god,” she stuttered, a flush rising to the girl’s face. “Councilor, ma’am, I – “

“Just call me Posey,” Shepard said quietly, raising a hand in a silent plea for Katie to _not_ make a big deal of this. “Really, please.”

Katie took a moment, swallowed her surprise, and nodded mutely. Then, in a whisper, she squeaked out, “Yes ma’am. Here’s your chit, ma’am. Thank you, ma’am.”

Posey chuckled and took her chit back, sliding it into the pocket of her pants. There was a soft ping as the receipt automatically transmitted to her omnitool, but she didn’t bother to pull it up just now. “We’ll call it a business expense,” she murmured, giving a soft smile to Poppy, who just blushed and nodded gratefully.

“I appreciate it, sis.”

“It’s no problem. You wouldn’t believe the back pay we stocked up from the war.”

Garrus smirked and nodded, remembering the first time he had opened up the balance on his new credit chit when he’d gotten re-settled on the Citadel. That number still made him see stars sometimes, even after they’d made a few dents in it with renovations and travel. And now the wedding, which would certainly use up a good chunk of the funds. But like Posey had said, there would be plenty more where that came from. They didn’t even receive paychecks anymore – they didn’t have to.

“Thank you very much, Katie,” Poppy said with a gentle smile as she began to pile things back into the baskets. With Shepard and Garrus’s help, they made quick work of refilling the two baskets, and then it was Merida leading the pack of children and adults back towards the vehicle outside. Garrus held the baskets while Poppy and Posey set about re-harnessing all of the children in their assigned seats. When they were settled, the groceries were piled into every inch of free space, and many of the older children had to hold a smaller or medium-sized box in their laps for the duration of the trip home.

This plan seemed to be very well thought-out though, Posey thought to herself, as the ride home was much quieter and less eventful than the ride to the market had been. By the time they reached the Evans home, half of the children were asleep in their seats, and the other half were fighting the deep yawns and droopy eyelids that meant naptime was inevitable. Poppy ushered the kids inside and sent them upstairs, making sure to keep each of the bedroom doors cracked open a bit in case a child began crying.

Once the children were all sleeping, the three adults moved all of the groceries into the kitchen. Poppy started to put things away, but began yawning herself. “We can save this for later I suppose,” she muttered, her hands on her hips as she stared at the stacks of boxes they had brought in. “Right now I could use a cup of coffee. You guys want any?”

Shepard nodded enthusiastically, but Garrus declined politely. “I’ve still got plenty of food left though, I’ll just grab a snack out of my stuff upstairs. I’ll be right back.” He disappeared up the stairs of the home, moving as silently as he could so as not to disturb anyone. Poppy turned back into the kitchen and pressed a button on a small silver machine, placing a mug beneath the dispenser just in time to catch the first drops of a steaming cup of coffee. She gave the first cup to Shepard, and then began making another for herself.

Posey let the warmth of the mug seep into her fingers, humming contentedly. The taste was rich, hints of hazelnut and chocolate. The tastes of human worlds and coffee beans harvested by human hands – the kind of coffee her parents had made so long ago. Possibly the exact same kind. Poppy was that kind of a person – sentimental and nostalgic to a fault, so much so that it wouldn’t have surprised Shepard a bit if her sister had told her that she hunted down the exact brand and supplier.

“You need cream or sugar?” Poppy asked, interrupting Shepard’s thoughts.

“Nah,” Posey responded, prompting a slightly disgusted nose wrinkle from her sister. “Hey, don’t judge me. Can you imagine the kind of crap that they tried to pass for powdered creamer in the Alliance? Even with Spectre clearance I couldn’t get real sugar if my life depended on it. You could learn to like black coffee, or you could hate it… and still have to drink black coffee.”

“Fair enough. Let’s go sit outside, in the backyard. We can talk there.”

The warmth of the Mindoir sun against her cheeks brought back a flood of memories – this time, they were welcome. Birthday parties in the backyard, the swimming pool their father had been so excited to build. Days spent clambering up trees at the edge of the forest, climbing quicker than Poppy could ever hope to follow until she had reached the top and could survey their entire neighborhood. Their mother opening the windows in the house to let the breeze flow through the house, the way it ruffled her mother’s golden curls as she leaned against the windowsill and took a deep, peaceful breath. Posey could not remember the last time she had felt this still, this calm deep inside. Everything seemed right, for this one moment.

A silence bearing the weight of twenty four years apart settled over the two sisters like an iron blanket. Shepard listened to her sister’s gentle, quiet breathing, and took a deep breath of her own. She went to ask some mundane question about the neighborhood, but Poppy spoke first.

“So, a turian, huh?”

Shepard smirked, sipping from her coffee mug. “I sure know how to pick ‘em, don’t I?”

“Hey, he’s better than that John Candace kid you had the hots for when we were little.”

“Most people are better than John Candace, Poppy. I don’t know what I was thinking back then.” They laughed together, Shepard shaking her head at how far her tastes had evolved. After a moment, they grew quiet again. The silence now felt softer, lighter, comfortable.

“We’ve come through a lot together,” Posey finally murmured. “He’s been there every step of the way since I was made a Spectre. Every fight, every wound, every situation that went to hell in a handbasket. He was right next to me. He’s one of the few crewmembers who believed in me after my ship was shot down over Alchera. I never had to prove myself to him, after that. He trusted me, and he’s the one I always turned to after some major shit went down on Horizon. And I think that’s one of the most important things anyone has ever done for me.”

“What happened on Horizon?”

Another memory. This time, Kaidan’s hazel eyes bright with grief and outrage, boring into her own. His voice deep and every bit as rich as she’d remembered, the crack in his throat when he said the words.

_“I loved you.”_

Shepard took a deep breath. “I guess you can keep a secret, right? Not that it matters much anymore.” Poppy nodded silently.

“So, did you ever hear about what happened on Alchera?”

“I’ve read a few of the news reports about it, since I found you. But there weren’t many details. Just that you were shot down, and that there was a memorial now for the crewmembers lost. It said that you were reported dead or missing from the site of the wreckage, but clearly you made it out all right.”

“Well…” Shepard hesitated. “Sort of. Actually, no, that’s a lie. I really didn’t ‘make it out’. I got spaced, thrown out of the ship - lost consciousness. Woke up on a hard metal table with cybernetics everywhere and this bitch in a catsuit telling me what I could and couldn’t do and who I had to work for. They said that two years had passed, and I had been... Well, clinically, I was… I died.”

Poppy just stared, her eyebrow arced in confusion. “But…”

“Yeah, I know. It doesn’t make sense. Most of the situations we’ve gotten ourselves into didn’t make sense, but here we are. Did you ever hear of an organization called Cerberus?” Poppy shook her head. “Didn’t figure. I won’t get into the politics of it, but they’re assholes. But they rebuilt me, brought me back, and they’re the ones who funded our mission to investigate what happened when all of those human colonies went missing. Long story short that partnership ended.”

“So what about Horizon?”

Shepard sighed, “Right, sorry. Rambling. So when they woke me up, none of my crew from the Normandy was there, except for Joker. They had tracked down some of them, but the one I was missing most was a man named Kaidan who I had developed feelings for. We’d spent a lot of time together and gotten really close on the Normandy SR-1, but… He’d seen me get spaced. He didn’t trust that I’d been rebuilt. I don’t blame him for that, you know. I might’ve once, but not now. But Garrus was there, no questions asked. For years, he stayed. And then, after we took down the Reapers and I woke up in a hospital bed in London, he was gone. For seven years, I thought that my soulmate was dead. Those were the worst seven years of my life. They’re over now, though. He’s home, and now I have you. And really, I think that’s all I’m ever going to need, the two of you.”

Poppy smiled at the sentiment, but quickly furrowed her brow again. “I thought I’d been through hell,” she murmured, glancing at the ground. “At least I’ve never died.”

“Don’t you dare discount what you’ve been through, Poppy. Without even knowing all of the details, I understand that you have seen some terrible things, and that terrible things have been done to you and those that you love. And I’m sorry. I’m sorry for not coming back for you.”

Poppy shook her head. “Don’t start that. I have never blamed you for what happened.”

“That doesn’t mean I don’t blame myself.”

“I know, Posey. I just wish that I’d known where you were earlier. We just never really heard about so much of what was going on. The batarians kept us in the dark, and then on Omega there was too much going on to catch more than snippets about what the Council was doing and that there was a human Spectre. But I could have never imagined that it was my sister. That you were even still alive. Then finally they got the comms up on Mindoir and this, just, this flood of information came in and you were alive and a Spectre and a Councilor and a Savior of the Entire Galaxy. It was a lot to take in, but I messaged you as soon as I could. As soon as I was sure it was you.”

“And here we are.” Shepard smiled gently, taking her sister’s hand and giving it a squeeze. “Even after all of that.”

“We would have made our parents really proud, you know?” Poppy’s eyes glimmered with tears as she said it. “I wish they were here to see this. To see us. To see you getting married. Even if it is to a turian, of all things.” That elicited another small laugh out of both of them. Then Poppy wiped her eyes with the back of her hand, and grinned. “That reminds me, we have a wedding to plan. Let’s head up to the study.”

“We should probably check on Garrus on the way up there,” Shepard smirked. “He’s been up there a while. Maybe he fell asleep or something, he does get tired easily these days.”

“Right, better make sure Percy hasn’t pulled his fringe off by now. Have you started any planning for the wedding, yet?”

Posey scratched the back of her neck nervously. “I, uh… Not quite. It’s been kind of hectic. My stylist threw a bunch of data pads at me though, with all of my options. Along with a 4,000 person guest list.” Poppy looked mildly horrified, but she shook it off with a roll of her lavender eyes.

“Hasn’t even started planning anything. This shindig’s in what, two and a half months? Get your ass up to the study, we’re going to pick a color scheme. Did you bring the data pads with you?”

Posey had thought about leaving them at home. Tried to hide them, even. Any excuse to ignore this whole wedding planning business, especially with something as big as finding her sister on her mind. It wasn’t that she wasn’t excited about finally marrying Garrus – quite the opposite, actually. She just didn’t understand the need for all the pomp and circumstance for what could have easily been a small, simple ceremony. However, Shepard had not hidden the data pads very well, and Tali found them one day while helping Shepard pack for her trip to Mindoir. And Tali was having none of this avoidance business.

The quarian had personally shoved each of the half-dozen data pads into Shepard’s luggage, and put a combination lock on it when Shepard was done packing. She’d had to send a picture of them arriving on Mindoir to be granted the code for the lock, to ensure that she didn’t just dump the data pads before the trip.

“Unfortunately,” Posey grimaced, “they’re in my bag.”

“Then we better get started!”

As they walked through the house and up the stairs, Shepard could hear stifled giggles and low voices coming from one of the open bedrooms. Garrus’s laughing subvocals were just barely audible, but certainly there. Shepard and Poppy looked at each other and grinned, moving closer to the door. They peeked through the crack of the open door, and each had to stifle laughter at the scene laid out before them. Garrus had been cornered, it seemed. He made quick eye contact with the two women through the door and grinned, before returning his attention to the children.

Posey and Poppy retreated, chuckling quietly, before heading into the study. There they sat for the rest of the afternoon, neck-deep in wedding details.

 

* * *

 

Garrus’s knees creaked and groaned quietly as he ascended the stairs, feeling exhaustion pulling at his bones. When they’d agreed to a grocery store run, he hadn’t realized that it was going to be a three hour expedition into the uncharted territory of a human supermarket, complete with a dozen children. At least they were well behaved, otherwise he may have gone to hide in the frozen meat aisle until it was all over.

Just as his boots met the top stair, Garrus heard a small, giggling child from one of the bedrooms. Then a pair of hazel eyes beneath thick raven curls peered out from behind a door. Percy made a beckoning motion with his hand through the crack of the door, and whispered,

“Psssst. Gawwus. Come here.”

Garrus smirked and came closer, kneeling down to be on the boy’s level. “What is it, Percy?”

The little one held a chubby finger to his lips, and when Garrus was close enough he grabbed the turian’s wrist and pulled him gently inside the room. Three other children – Kimmy, Mary, and Belinda - were already seated at the small child-sized table in the middle of the room, their hands clasped around tiny plastic cups. Their eyes set on him expectantly, as though he should know exactly what to do.

“Well, are you going to sit down?” Kimmy said haughtily, tossing a ginger curl behind her shoulder. “We don’t have a chair big enough for you, but the floor isn’t that bad. The oldest kids have to sit on the floor when we have parties.” Her words were not asking for his participation in this strange ritual, but more demanding. The crinkle of her nose and the freckles that ran across her cheeks, combined with the fiery hair, reminded him all too much of another sassy redheaded woman in his life, causing him to chuckle inwardly at the comparison. It also made him wonder, not for the first time, what Shepard had been like as a child this age. A handful, he was sure.

Carefully, Garrus lowered himself onto the carpet and folded his legs under the short table as best he could. Kimmy looked immensely pleased with having talked him into sitting down, and she continued to speak. “We’re having tea time, and we wanted you to join us. Here,” she grinned, pausing to grab a small pink hat with a blue flower and the name _“Laurel”_ embroidered across the front in a curly script. “You can have Laurel’s hat. She doesn’t like to wear it anyway.”

“Thank you, Kimmy. It’s a lovely hat.” It barely fit on his forehead, but he left it there anyway, wondering how silly he must look.

“You can call me Kimberly when we’re at the tea table, Mr. Garrus.” She took a sip from her plastic cup. “That’s what I’d like to go by once I get adopted anyway. It sounds very grown-up, don’t you think?” Garrus nodded, working hard to keep from smirking. Belinda reached over and placed an empty plastic cup in front of him, and then Mary used a matching plastic teapot to fill the cup with invisible liquid. When the cup was ‘full’, all of the children grasped their cups again and watched him carefully.

He had no idea what was supposed to happen next.

After a few moments of awkward silence in the room, Percy leaned over and whispered in Garrus’s ear, “You’re supposed to dwink it. It’s pretend tea.” With an “Ahh” of realization, Garrus dutifully picked the plastic cup up, blew on it gently, and then made small sipping noises. This seemed to please all of the children, especially Kimmy – Kimberly – who nodded approvingly.

“So,” Garrus said over his cup, “is this something you guys do a lot?”

All of the children nodded, and it was Belinda who spoke this time. “Mrs. Poppy taught us how to have tea parties. She said her family did it when she was little, so she wanted our family to learn how. The older kids don’t play as much but sometimes we have really big tea parties with all of the kids, the ones who know how to use cups at least. Eliza’s still too little.”

It was then Mary’s turn to speak. “Mrs. Poppy says it’s good for us all to play together, because that’s how families work. All the kids do stuff together and sometimes they fight but mostly they play and everything is happy. Mrs. Poppy says we’re all a family, even though we’re orphans. Do you have a family?”

Garrus smiled, and nodded gently. “I do. I have a mom and a dad who live on a planet called Palaven, and a sister too. And then your Aunt Posey, Mrs. Poppy’s sister, she’s kind of my family too. And we have lots of close friends that I consider family.”

“Are you and Aunt Posey getting mawwied?” Percy’s voice was small and hopeful.

“Yes, Percy, that is the plan. Very soon, actually.”

All of the children looked delighted at this news. Kimmy could hardly contain herself from leaping up out of her chair as she asked, “Can we please come? Oh, please _please_. We’ll be really good, we’ve never been to a wedding and it would be so fun and _pleeeeeease_ – “

Garrus held up a hand to try to quiet her down, wincing at the shrill tone of her voice. “I’m sure we have plenty of space for it, but you’ll have to ask Poppy about it first, okay? I can’t make any promises.” The idea of a dozen angry children, all angry at _him_ , was somewhat horrifying.

Percy, having become antsy in his own seat, took the opportunity to crawl up around Garrus’s shoulders. His hands grasped for purchase on Garrus’s fringe, and the tugging sensation brought back a flood of memories.

The same sensation had triggered that primal, raging response that had alerted Shepard to what they would later know was Corpalis. Feeling the tug on his fringe now still wasn’t pleasant, but he was able to manage the discomfort thanks to the treatments he had undergone. And with Percy’s small bubbly giggles behind his head, Garrus knew that he could have little children tugging on his fringe forever, and that he wouldn’t have to be afraid of hurting them again, because of Dr. Belen and his team.

That brought around another line of thought, one that made his chest warm and his heart beat a little faster. The idea of having kids of their own, or even adopting one. Or two, who knows? For most of his life, he had never imagined being a father. His own father had given Garrus a distaste for the idea of parenting, but Shepard had changed that. Even then, during the war kids were never on his mind. There was no time, no guarantee that they would still both be there tomorrow. Now, there were still things to be unsure about – they both worked a lot on the Citadel, and would they adopt a turian or a human child? Maybe some of each? But those issues seemed small compared to the joy that a child might bring. And it occurred to Garrus that besides marrying Shepard, being a father may just be the best thing he could do with his life now.

Percy slipped off of his shoulders and came around to face him, looking intently at his face. “What do these blue fings mean?”

“That’s how people know what family I’m from,” Garrus replied, grinning. Percy flashed a shy smile in return, unphased by the sharpness of Garrus’s visible teeth. His chubby toddler’s hands reached up, fingers tracing the faded blue lines where his colony markings skated across the plates of his face.

“Can I have some? They’re weally cool. We can be family.”

“Maybe one day,” Garrus said softly, ruffling the boy’s dark curls. “Maybe one day.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Who can say what causes writer's block? I surely don't know, but inspiration finally struck me again last week to continue working on this story that is very close to my heart. I hope you enjoy this chapter, and I will work on plowing through some more as long as this creative streak lasts!


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